Coronavirus updates in NYC and the world: The news on April 17-20

With New York and the whole world fighting to contain the spread of the coronavirus, we’ve compiled the most important recent updates here from our reporters and editors. For more coverage and resources on how to respond to the outbreak, check out our coronavirus special report page here.

New York City subway ridership has plummeted by 93% during the coronavirus pandemic, but homeless people still turn to mass transit for shelter — and it has raised alarming health and safety concerns for workers and riders.

City data shows roughly 2,000 people sleep on subway trains on a regular winter night; the number dips as the weather warms up.

For Jannie Barnes, charity in the time of coronavirus begins with a handcart.

The 64-year-old Queens resident delivers hot meals for LIC Relief in Long Island City, wearing a smile as she hauls 33 hot lunches to a senior center near the Queensbridge Houses on a recent afternoon.

To date, there are mainly these types of anecdotal accounts of anosmia and dysgeusia. But its manifestation in mild to moderate cases do bring to light the concerning aspect of the neuroinvasive potential of SARS-COV-2.

The city’s Department of Correction has given at least 30,000 masks to the FDNY — even though correction officers and other jail staffers have said for weeks that they don’t have enough supplies to protect themselves from coronavirus, the Daily News has learned.

The city should establish a monument to coronavirus victims on Hart Island, the potter’s field in the Bronx where authorities recently began burying people who died of COVID-19, says a Manhattan lawmaker.

A union representing 42,000 nurses is suing the state Health Department and two hospitals over their alleged lack of coronavirus preparedness and “dangerous” failure to ensure the RNs’ on-the-job safety during a pandemic that has ravaged New York.

Democrats and the Trump administration failed to reach an agreement on another round of coronavirus aid for struggling small businesses before the Senate convened Monday afternoon, once again delaying a vote on the long-awaited emergency cash.

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones shook hands with several protesters in Texas who want the state to re-open businesses during a pandemic that has so far killed about 40,000 Americans and more than 166,000 people worldwide.

Gov. Cuomo called on the federal government Monday to boost wages for healthcare workers, cops, firefighters and others on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus outbreak, as another 478 New Yorkers died overnight from the respiratory contagion.

A homicide suspect was arrested Sunday after a team of police officers tasked with enforcing Florida’s social distancing rules found him sitting on a beach just two days after it reopened to the public.

Mario Gatti, 30, is accused of fatally shooting another man in a Pennsylvania apartment in January.

A 5-year-old Detroit girl died after two weeks on a ventilator due to coronavirus symptoms. Skylar Herbert, the daughter of two first responders, is the first Michigan child to die of coronavirus.

“We decided to take her off the ventilator today because her improvement had stopped, the doctors told us that it was possible she was brain dead, and we basically just knew she wasn’t coming back to us,” her mother said.

The burger chain announced late Sunday night that it would be returning its $10 million emergency loan to the U.S. government after news that the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $349 billion stimulus package meant to help small businesses stay open during the coronavirus outbreak, has already run out of money.

The Trump administration and Congress expect an agreement Monday on an aid package of up to $450 billion to boost a small-business loan program that has run out of money and add funds for hospitals and COVID-19 testing.

The nonstop hunt for life-saving equipment began as soon as New York City’s hospitals shut down all elective procedures on patients because of the coronavirus outbreak.

For John McBride, a project manager for medical equipment planning at NYU Langone in Manhattan, that decision meant dozens of medical offices were no longer serving patients — and it created an opportunity for a hospital network straining under the weight of the pandemic.

William Garrison was sentenced to life in prison at 16 years old for first-degree murder during a 1976 armed robbery. More than 40 years later, the now-60-year-old was waiting out the last few weeks of his term.

A federal judge in Kansas has blocked the state from enforcing a 10-person limit on religious gatherings against two churches whose pastors have called the measure an attack on their constitutional rights.

Saturday’s temporarily ruling, which is in effect until at least May 2, was the result of a lawsuit filed against Gov. Laura Kelly by a church in Dodge City and another in Junction City in northeast Kansas.

In the time before social distancing, heading to the supermarket was becoming less of a necessity thanks to online delivery services. But with companies like Fresh Direct and Instacart being flooded with shoppers nervous about coronavirus, delivery windows are becoming much harder to come by.

As a result, unlikely businesses are expanding their normal services to accommodate the demand.

Coronavirus is raging through NYC’s two federal jails — yet jail staff, defense attorneys and inmates interviewed by the Daily News say the official numbers of COVID-19 cases obscure the magnitude of the crisis behind bars.

Officially, the Bureau of Prisons reports that 24 staffers have tested positive for coronavirus at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. Tyrone Covington, a correctional officer and president of the union local at the jail, disputed that figure.

It might seem tough to draw a comparison between current social distancing measures put in place to save lives from coronavirus and the horrific evil of the Nazis, but Idaho State. Rep Heather Scott tried her best in at least two interviews conducted this month.

Speculation has swirled throughout the coronavirus pandemic that when summer comes, the virus will fade away, much like the seasonal flu. But little evidence has surfaced to support that assumption, and now yet another study – though not yet peer-reviewed – adds to the indications that heat does not kill this thing.

At least 68 MTA employees have died from coronavirus and thousands more have tested positive for the disease — but new data has transit officials cautiously hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind them.

The White House and Democrats in Congress said Sunday they’re nearing a deal on a more than $400 billion in new spending to help Americans weather the economic chaos wrought by the coronavirus outbreak.

More than two dozen people at a juvenile detention center in Brooklyn have tested positive for the coronavirus — just two weeks after medical staff there told colleagues they could not wear protective masks on the job, sources said.

One of the earliest casualties of the American coronavirus outbreak was the world of basketball, which saw March Madness quashed and high school basketball contests canceled as the virus spread last month.

On March 6, crowds filed into Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis for a hyped-up round of high school sectional semis. Five attendees would later die after testing positive for coronavirus.

Officers were called to an address on Holland Ave. near E. 212 St. in Williamsbridge just after 1:15 a.m. Saturday, and found a large group of partygoers boozing in a parking lot and nearby garage, police said.

Party hosts set up a pool table and makeshift bar at the improvised nightclub that offered Corona and Red Stripe beers, Hennessy cognac, rum and vodka.

They call it personal protective equipment, but as far as Rita Williams is concerned they need to come up with another name. Because even with the masks, the gowns, the gloves and the face shields, health care workers like her are still contracting coronavirus and dying from the dreaded disease.

A laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, located just miles away from the wet market where officials said the novel coronavirus first emerged, has denied accusations the disease originated at the institute before it spread and infected millions worldwide.

As the coronavirus pandemic has forced restaurants and bars to shut down across the five boroughs, food trucks have stepped up to the plate once again, donating food to first responders, tweaking their menu to meet the needs of hungry healthcare workers and going out of their way to deliver meals to the city’s elderly.

Gov. Cuomo called nursing homes the biggest concern for New York authorities battling the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday even as a lower overall total of 540 people died in the past day.

The relatively lower death toll represents a dip of more than 25% from just days ago. But the governor said the still-raging pandemic claimed 36 elderly victims in nursing homes — and still poses a threat.

Shaun Clancy, owner of the renowned Midtown sports bar Foley’s, views the month of March as 31 days of Christmas.

His customers emerge from hibernation, enticed by the promise of big games on his big screen TVs: The Big East Tournament. March Madness. And best of all, the return of the Yankees and Mets on Opening Day. But March of 2020 felt more like a death in the family than the liveliest time of the sporting year, and April is no better.

The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has cleared 150,000, with the U.S. accounting for almost a quarter of the recorded global fatalities, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

More than 36,000 people have died after contracting the virus in the U.S.

A trio of soulless salesmen was arrested for peddling medical face masks for 10 times the asking price — just days after authorities urged New Yorkers to cover their mouths and noses to help fight off coronavirus.

Cops said the price-gouging ghouls were trying to cash in on the global pandemic with an online advertisement for R95 masks sold by health and safety goods manufacturer 3M.

The city of Jacksonville, Fla., reopened its beaches Friday with new restrictions aimed at keeping people safe amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“This can be the beginning of the pathway back to normal life,” Mayor Lenny Curry said. “Please respect and follow these limitations. Stay within the guidelines for your safety as well as for the safety of your neighbors.”

The FDNY’s newest paramedics couldn’t have arrived at a more crucial time. After weeks of training, 62 emergency medical technicians graduated the department’s paramedic school this week, two months earlier than usual to join the city’s fight against coronavirus.

The grim revelations indicated that one in every five of New York state’s COVID-19 fatalities died inside a nursing home — with a staggering 19 of the facilities statewide reporting 20 or more deaths in the ongoing pandemic. The grand total of statewide nursing home deaths was 2,477 through Tuesday, officials said.

As the coronavirus pandemic keeps millions of drivers at home, many states are seeing “a severe spike in speeding," including a surge in vehicles clocked at 100 mph or more, a national nonprofit has found.

Colin Kaepernick gave $100,000 to address racial disparities produced and amplified by the spread of the coronavirus. “Black and brown communities are being disproportionately devastated by COVID-19 because of hundreds of years of structural racism,” tweeted Kaepernick.

Shakespeare in the Park, an annual Central Park tradition for more than a half-century, will not take place this year, organizers announced Friday, as the coronavirus sidelines another beloved element of summer in the city.

The commission that advised the city on how to close Rikers Island wants the state and the courts to step up efforts to identify and release detainees who are risk of coronavirus if they stay behind bars.

Broadway actor Nick Cordero is still struggling amid his battle with coronavirus.

With his heart and lungs improving, Cordero was able to get off the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, though he’s still on a ventilator. And given “blood flow issues" in his leg, his family is unsure if he’ll walk again.

The city is opening up 10 more coronavirus testing sites across the five boroughs in the coming days, Mayor de Blasio announced Friday.

The new sites are specifically for healthcare workers, essential employees and New Yorkers who are more vulnerable to COVID-19, including older city residents and those with underlying medical conditions like diabetes, lung disease, immunodeficiency, cancer and asthma.

Gov. Cuomo slammed the federal government for “passing the buck" amid the coronavirus crisis and said 630 New Yorkers died of coronavirus Friday, a toll that marked a slight increase from the previous day.

After hitting a recent low of 602, the death toll jumped again even as fewer patients continued to be placed on ventilators and needed intensive care in hospitals.

Vincent Asaro, 85, who dodged a guilty conviction in the notorious 1978 Lufthansa heist depicted in Martin Scorsese’s film “Goodfellas,” was ordered released from prison by a Brooklyn judge Friday over concerns about coronavirus and the longtime mobster’s rapidly declining health.

The Bonnano family capo pleaded guilty in 2017 to ordering associates — including the late Gambino boss John Gotti’s grandson — to burn the car of a man who cut him off in Howard Beach.

Coronavirus has dramatically shaken up the presidential campaign map — and early signs suggest it could be devastating to Trump’s reelection fight.

Analysts say Trump’s path to 270 Electoral College votes — and four more years — has narrowed significantly as he faces increasingly ugly poll numbers in several battleground states that he won in 2016.

A Washington mother who delivered her new baby while in a medically induced coma due to coronavirus has finally been able to hold her days-old daughter after testing negative for the illness wreaking havoc worldwide.

Angela Primachenko, 27, of Vancouver — about 165 miles south of Seattle — held her new daughter, Ava, for the first time on Wednesday.

The 50th anniversary NYC Pride March and the Puerto Rican Day Parade could be rescheduled or cancelled this year as Mayor de Blasio weighs prohibiting special events in June over the coronavirus pandemic.

The city already cancelled all non-essential permitted events in April and May, including parades, concerts, rallies, marathons, festivals and other large gatherings.

Africa could see some 300,000 deaths from coronavirus this year even with “intense social distancing” and other intervention measures, the United Nations said in a report released Friday.

Under the worst-case scenario, about 3.3 million people would die and 1.2 billion would get infected, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, which cited modeling from Imperial College London.

Chinese officials admitted they underestimated the total of number people killed by coronavirus in Wuhan, where the illness first emerged before spreading across the globe, and increased the death toll there by 50%.

Chris Cuomo revealed on CNN Wednesday night that in addition to himself, his wife Cristina is also suffering from a coronavirus infection. On Thursday, Cristina made her first public comments about her illness.

President Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen is to be released from an upstate federal prison camp that is closing because of coronavirus, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday night.